The present invention relates to a method of tenderizing veneer sheet (referred to as "veneer," hereinafter) and to an apparatus for carrying out the tenderizing method.
When a veneer is cut off from the material wood, cracks are usually formed in the reverse side of the veneer, i.e. in the machined or parted surface of the latter, so that the length of the veneer grows larger at its reverse side than at its obverse side, resulting in so-called curling.
A conventional measure for avoiding this curling is to mechanically form in the obverse side of the veneer a plurality of cuts corresponding to the cracks, so as to compensate for the difference of length between both sides. This measure is, however, not so effective, because the mechanically formed cuts are refilled shortly after the withdrawal of the cutting blade, due to the elastic resetting nature of the veneer material. The refilled cuts remain in the obverse side of the veneer merely as linear traces of the cutting blade.
Thus, the problem of the curling of veneer remains unsolved.